DarkSide

TW: This chapter contains extremely sensitive material involving bullying and a fairly graphic description of a murder-suicide toward the end. If you feel that this will disturb you, please, do not read beyond this point!

2015

"Can I—tell you guys something?" Luigi asked his five friends.

They were all seated in a large room with a bunch of chairs, a Wii-U console and a TV screen. A variety of snacks was arranged on a long table, which the six periodically helped themselves to.

"Sure, L," said Eddy. "What is it?"

"This has been going on for most of my life—and it got worse in Smash," confessed Luigi.

"What's going on?" Isai demanded. "Surely, we can help you."

"For as long as I can remember, I've been—targeted—by bullies," Luigi uttered painfully. "Because—I was Player Two and in Mario's shadow. They called me "the Eternal Understudy" or "that weird, green coward" and other names. It was mainly verbal at first. Then, I started having food and drinks dumped on me. And when I got into Smash, it got—physical. Very physical."

"Who did this to you?" growled Abate. "When I get my hands on them, why I'll…"

"What's the use? They'll paint you as the bad guy," sniffled Luigi. "With the advent of technology, it worsened and worsened. There were humiliating photos and videos, vicious rumors being spread about me and anonymous people telling me to—to…"

"Luigi," gasped Mr. C. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because—I was afraid that you'd think me as weak and as a tattletale," replied Luigi.

"You're not weak," Blayd assured him. "Going to your friends and admitting you need help is a sign of strength. Because believe me, we'll always be there for you—to take care of you."

"And look at you nowadays!" Isai chimed in. "You're up there with the big dogs! You may be the second player, but you don't play when it comes to Smash! And you're not a secret character anymore. You shouldn't count that out."

"Still, it won't stop. I had people pretending to be my friend only to embarrass me in public. I had people ruin my birthday last year—whining about how I didn't deserve attention due to how cowardly I was. It's tapered off somewhat, but it's still pretty awful."

"Well, you won't have to face it alone any longer," vowed Isai, puffing his chest out, "because you'll have me."

"And me," said Abate.

"And me," said Eddy.

"Me, too," said Blayd.

"Me, three," said Mr. C.

"You—you'd really do that?" breathed Luigi.

"Yeah, we're here for you, L," said Eddy. "For better or worse."

"Th-thanks, guys," stammered Luigi, staring bashfully at the ground. "I—never thought I'd have so many people looking out for me." When he looked up, his eyes were glistening with tears.

"You were never alone in this, L," intoned Isai. "Someone was always by your side during your battles."

"And I thank you, from the bottom of my heart," Luigi said in a shaky voice.

Soon, the six of them were seated around the console, engaged in a round of Smash.

"Oh, my God," said Isai.

"This can't be real," breathed Abate.

The five were all in Abate's house, gathered around his laptop, collecting evidence of the misfortune befalling their main. And it didn't disappoint. The poor man's profile was flooded with scathing comments and head-shaking insults. And the worse thing was, their profiles were locked, which meant that they couldn't report them directly!

"Have you tried reporting these posts?" asked Blayd.

"I flagged them, along with other people, but it didn't seem to do anything," huffed Abate. "All I have are usernames. We don't even know the identities of these bullies!"

"But Luigi has to deal with them day after day," offered Eddy. "Maybe some of these people do their tormenting in person."

"And then probably threaten him with something ghastly if he tells a soul," snapped Mr. C. "Are you sure there isn't any way we can access their profiles?"

"We can send them a follow request," suggested Isai.

"These guys aren't stupid," objected Blayd. "They'll probably do some research and find out that we like Luigi. Then, they'll come after us, too!"

"I think the most we can do right now is support our hero in green," Eddy spoke up, "because he needs us more than ever."

"Amen," said Abate.

"Amen," the other three chimed in.

October 4, 2015

Mr. ConCon sat in the diner, drinking a cup of coffee. It had been four days since the release of patch 1.1.1, which had introduced brand new stages to Smash but had heavily nerfed the golden ticket of Luigi's down throw. It had targeted the knockback scaling, and although some other properties of Luigi's fighting style had been buffed, the update had hit him hard. All of those killer combos he'd been able to do were now flung out the window. This was bound to have a negative effect on his emotional state!

Mr. C smiled as the waitress refilled his coffee. At the same time, Eddy strolled into the diner and settled into the stool beside Mr. C. "How's it going?" he asked.

"I—I'm worried about Luigi," Mr. C admitted softly. "I thought that the bullies were finally laying off. And then this came along. Now they have the perfect excuse to pick on him."

"I get it. You're upset about the nerf, as you should be," said Eddy. "In fact, all of the Luigi players, myself included, are up in arms over it."

"But you're a Melee player," said Mr. C. "It doesn't affect you or Abate."

"A Luigi player is a Luigi player, regardless of the game," said Eddy. "Abate, Blayd and I are standing in solidarity with the Smash 4 players."

"I appreciate that," said Mr. C. "Did Luigi call you or come to visit?"

"He came to my house on the afternoon it happened," Eddy said somberly. "Tears were streaming down his face. It didn't take long for his tormentors to find out about the nerf. On and off the battlefield, it was open season for him. I took him in, and we cooked some food. It made him feel better. Then, I put on some music and watched him dance—he's always loved to dance; it's how he expresses himself. It felt good to watch him just forget about everyone and everything around him and break down his body and roll and wind his hips. I let him dance for hours. It was nightfall when he finally tired himself out. He thanked me, gave me a hug and left. And I haven't seen him since."

"He didn't come to me or Abate or the others?" asked Mr. C.

Eddy shrugged. "I guess—Luigi works in mysterious ways," he offered.

Mr. C sighed. "I just can't believe this. Luigi's at a high point in his life, and he gets nerfed. For God's sake, I was sitting in this very diner when I found out. Idiots!"

"But some Luigi players have gotten to talking," said Eddy, "and they think they can work around the nerf and make new combos."

Mr. C perked up. "That would be something," he conceded.

He signaled the waitress. "Would you please be so kind as to whip up the morning special for my friend?" he asked.

"I'll get that going for you!" the waitress said cheerily.

Minutes later, the two men were sitting, chowing down on their breakfast.

"Abate and I are practicing for another doubles round," Eddy was saying. "I mean, we're close to unbeatable now. Mango, Armada—they're no match for us!"

"I just spoke to Blayd," said Mr. C. "It looks like he's notched another victory under his belt. He's also looking into that mod—Project M."

"Project M? Isn't that Brawl with Melee mechanics?" asked Eddy.

"Yeah—and some rad new costumes, too!"

They shared a laugh, and then Eddy's cell phone rang.

"Hello? Hey, L! Wait—what? Oh—no. When? Okay, don't move. We'll be there in twenty." He hung up and turned to Mr. C.

"What was that about?" asked Mr. C.

"It's Luigi. He just lost a match—badly."

"He's lost before, hasn't he?"

"And some whackjob recorded it all and just uploaded the video to YouTube."

Mr. C's face was completely drained of color. "Oh, J—s," he said dumbly.

Hastily, the two men tipped the waitress, paid for the food and hightailed it out of there.

Eddy and Mr. C were joined by Abate, Isai and Blayd as they sat in Luigi's room, vainly attempting to console the plumber.

"We're gonna contact the administrators and have this thing removed," Abate assured him.

"Why bother? It's too late! It already has 226 likes!" sobbed Luigi, still bruised and bloody from his defeat. "It's being talked about everywhere! I'm being used as a food waste disposal in the cafeteria! And look at the comments!"

Isai had a hand clasped over his mouth. "Are people really this hateful?" he gasped. "Saying things like this ought to be a felony?"

"Who's the turd who uploaded this video?!" roared Eddy. "I'll mess them up so badly that their grandkids won't recognize them!"

"Well, let me at them, too!" Abate joined in.

"Guys, calm down," said Blayd. "That won't help anything. We need to focus on Luigi first."

"They're calling him a practice dummy!" yelled Isai.

"Practice dummy, punching bag—that all they think of me as," said Luigi. "This—this is getting out of control. They'll never stop, and there's nothing I can do about it."

"Luigi, you know that's not true!" Abate said hotly. "If we don't find out, then Master Hand surely will!"

"Yeah, like he's gonna do anything," scoffed Luigi. "He probably invited me for Mario's sake. We got into an argument once, and then while I was trying to cool off in the Training Room, I overheard him ranting about me—that he shouldn't have invited me, that I'll always be Mario's sidekick, and that nobody will care whether I live or die!"

"Lu," gasped the five, having learned this news for the first time.

"He said he was sorry afterward, that he didn't mean it, but why should I forgive him?" snapped Luigi. "He doesn't deserve my forgiveness—and neither do the others! They'll act all remorseful—only to start again after a few days!"

"Lu, listen to me," said Isai. "I don't care what it takes. We're going to find these people. And when we do, they're gonna wish they'd never been born. They will be begging for your mercy."

"Oh, yes—they will," hissed Luigi, and that was when the five men saw that look in his eyes. The look of bloodlust and wrath. And as long as they lived, they would never, ever forget that look.

Six days later…

"It's abominable!" Isai was saying as he perused Skype. "There are pictures of Luigi getting the snot beaten out of him, blogs celebrating his nerf, more videos—when will it end?!"

"I don't know, but he hasn't contacted any of us since the first video," said Blayd, sweat standing out on his brow.

"Did you try calling him?" asked Isai.

"Yeah, did you?"

"I left him a voicemail. He didn't answer back."

"Maybe we should call the police," said Eddy. "If he's missing, then maybe they can help us find him."

"We don't even know if he's missing," objected Blayd. "Maybe we should give him a few days to collect himself. He sounded pretty—sinister—the last time we spoke."

"Okay—well—how about we tell somebody what these people have been doing to him," suggested Eddy. "They'll know what to do."

"Yeah—like they care," sniffed Isai. "Just like he said—nobody cares about Player Two."

Suddenly, Mr. C burst into the room, wild-eyed. "You guys! The news! Something awful has happened!" he wailed.

Isai, Blayd and Eddy followed Mr. C into the den, where the TV showed a crime scene cordoned off by yellow tape.

"It occurred just after 3 p.m. this afternoon," the anchor was saying. "According to witnesses, eight men were playing basketball on this court when they were suddenly attacked by a man in green."

"Oh, my God!" Isai, Blayd and Eddy screamed.

"The attacker proceeded to brutally beat and then stab the victims to death—before turning the weapon on himself."

Eddy crossed himself and said a Hail Mary.

"The attacker has been identified as Luigi Mario, a resident of the Mushroom Kingdom and the younger brother of their hero and celebrity, Mario "Jumpman" Mario. The eight victims apparently had a history of bullying and harassing him."

"Why didn't we see this coming?" asked Mr. C, heartbroken.

"All nine men were pronounced dead at the scene. One eyewitness has videotaped the entire incident on an iPhone. We will now show you some of that video, but we must warn you that it is graphic and may be difficult to watch."

Immediately, Eddy lunged forward and turned the TV off. The men sat in stupefied silence.

"Heavenly Father," breathed Isai, "please, have mercy on Luigi's soul. I know that he committed two terrible sins, but he did them because he was pushed to the edge and didn't know what else to do. Please, forgive him, and accept him into your Kingdom. Amen."

His friends bowed their heads. "Amen."

On October 4, 2015, a video of Luigi Mario suffering a horrible defeat in a Smash free-for-all was anonymously posted to the Internet.

On October 10, 2015, the countless bullying and hate became too much for the victim, who finally succumbed to the rage and darkness building up inside of him.

Today is the anniversary of his death.

So, just to clear things up, this is going to be a special Halloween story, and I hope to get it finished by then.

Wow, things got ugly really quick. And they're gonna get uglier!

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